Dear Leonard Nimoy, February 28, 2015

I don’t write fan mail very often. (The only other time was when I emailed Wil Wheaton, and he stuck a link to my old blog on his page. Really.) This time is a little different, however, and I wanted to make sure I got this one right.

I know you were a very talented and intelligent man in so many areas, and I don’t want to downplay that at all. The wonderful thing about the internet is that your passing has made me aware of how many other talents you had beside acting as well as your wonderful ethical compass. That being said, I mostly knew you as Spock, and so that’s what I am going to speak to.

Thank you for being Spock. I’m sure there are a lot of people who might have opted for that spot, if it had been offered, but I’m very glad it was you. Spock was what made Star Trek for me, and you were what made Spock who he was.

As a kid, occasionally my dad would flip through the channels and come upon a rerun of Star Trek. We didn’t often like to watch the same things (he preferred football and action while I preferred comedies), but Star Trek was one of the things we really both enjoyed together. The reason I enjoyed Star Trek was Spock. As a kid, I didn’t really enjoy Kirk’s swagger and found McCoy’s temper a little bothersome. I adored Uhura, but she was, unfortunately, an under-utilized character with whom I didn’t feel I had much in common. Spock, however, was someone I could identify with. He didn’t have a temper, just an even manner. He always explained his reasoning, and he never talked down to anyone (well, except McCoy now and again). He made sense to me. Very few people explain things to kids, and I loved that watching Spock made me feel like, maybe somewhere, there would be calm, rational adults in the world…or at least on another one. Considering most of my teachers talked down and weren’t terribly nice to me, it gave me hope. I wondered if I would’ve happier growing up on Vulcan.

As I got older, I saw the movies as they came out. Thank you for directing the fourth movie. That has always been my favorite for far too many reasons to list. I can only say it really reinforced many things I felt were important about the world.

Now, as an adult and parent, I have been sharing my love of Star Trek with my kids. A couple years ago, we began watching the original Star Trek series. We talk over the plots and stories, the characters, the themes. My younger son says that Spock is his favorite. He cried at the end of Wrath of Khan. He hasn’t seen The Search for Spock yet, but I’m looking forward to watching it with him, even though it is an odd-numbered movie. It was still a huge relief not to lose Spock after all.

Humans don’t have katras exactly like Vulcans, but a human version is that we can be remembered through the memories of those we care about and our visible works. While I can’t speak to any personal memories, I can say that Leonard Nimoy’s works are varied and profound. There is a lot to remember him by. For me, that work will primarily be about Spock, which is about as good a katra as anyone, human or Vulcan, could hope to have. I am very grateful that, unlike a katra, I can also share those works with my children.

Thank you, Leonard Nimoy, for giving us Spock, and for being both the best human and Vulcan you could be. Thank you for acting out a character whose calm rationality and intelligence is something worth aspiring to. Thank you for being a role model, both in real life and on-screen. Thank you for giving everyone so much of yourself.